Newdegate grower removes overlap with Morris ICT

08 September 2015

Newdegate farmer Brad Iffla and McIntosh and Son sales representative Dan Tracey pictured looking over Mr Iffla’s Morris 9550 air cart, which features the manufacturer’s new Input Control Technology (ICT).

Dan Frampton, who helps out the Ifflas at Newdegate during seeding, Brad Iffla and Dan Tracey, McIntosh and Son, discuss the benefits of the Morris C2 Contour drill. Brad said he was particularly impressed with how well the paired row double-shoot system worked.

OVERLAP at seeding was a significant issue at Brad Iffla’s Newdegate farm due to irregular paddock configuration on the family’s property.

So when it came time to upgrade their seeding machinery, Mr Iffla sought out the latest technology available in an effort to reduce the problem.

“Unfortunately, a lot of our paddocks here aren’t square, so when we were looking to upgrade, we wanted a system that would minimise the overlap,” he said.

“That’s why we were interested in Input Control Technology (ICT).”

Mr Iffla and his father, Bob, sowed a 13,000-hectare cropping program this season using their new Morris 9550 air cart and 27-metre (90-foot) C2 Contour drill, which included ICT and liquid sectional control. They purchased the system from McIntosh and Son at Katanning.

The ICT system is designed to eliminate overlap and works via GPS and the Topcon X30 controller with the Morris carts, using the gear drive system for the metering wheels to quickly engage or disengage, allowing instantaneous shut-off.

In contrast to other auto shut-off systems, the Morris ICT runs individual metering wheels that can stop product dead. However, the system remains primed with product and as soon as it re-engages, it is back in the air stream.

The Iffla’s 2015 cropping program consists of lupins, peas, canola, barley, wheat and oats, and they apply a full liquid fertiliser schedule using Flexi-N.

They had their Contour drill set on 30-centimetre (12-inch) tine spacings and Mr Iffla said he was particularly impressed with how well the paired row double-shoot system worked.

While there were a few initial teething problems when seeding first began, once they progressed he found the ICT simple and easy to use.

“We had a tiny issue at the start, but McIntosh (and Son) sorted out a solution fairly quickly – they’ve been fantastic with their customer support,” Mr Iffla said.

“Once that was sorted, it was easy going and we found it to be a very efficient system and, importantly, we’ve eliminated the overlap.

“We’ve worked out that we’re saving just under $20,000 by not having the overlap and going by that, the ICT should pay for itself in about three years.”

Although their season got off to a relatively dry start, he said the germination was pretty even and after receiving 30 millimetres at the end of June and another 15mm recently, crops were looking good.